Need some advise on fish tank and ph.?

Question

I have a 10 gallon tank with one molly and one male cory cat. My female cory died of old age and I wanted to get a new one becasue he will not be active after losing his mate. I have been testing my water and doing water changes. i add good bacteria and ph increase , but I cannot get my ph above 6. My water is very soft and the ph is too acidic. I am afraid to add another fish with this ph level. I can't go to expensive measures to fix this, but want to do my best. If anyone has any advise on how to handle this situation it would be greatly appreciated. Seems like the petstore employees don't even know what to do.

By the way, I have had the fish for several months after my grandmother had them for 3 years.

Answer 1

Well, just how long were these fish alive like as in how long did you have them? I'm just curious is all when you say old age. I'd expect cories, in the proper enviroment to last over 10 years really. I hope it passed with no harm really.

About the PH. Don't go adding the PH up please. Fighting with the PH is liable to be one of the causes of death with those fish. Instead, what I'd do, you want the PH to go up, and if you keep adding PH up, and it's not staying up, then something is bringing it down. Most likely causes here, is matter in the substrate not removed, has continued to decay and is now emitting carbonic and nitric acid's into the water, and I'd suspect you have almost 0 hardness buffer to counter act that. Noone will ever get all waste and excess food out of a tank. There's always going to be some amounts trapped in the substrate no matter how well you clean it. So instead of fighting the PH, increase your hardness, and see if that doesn't do the trick :)

Get a good calcium and magnesium buffer. It comes in liquid and shouldn't be very expensive. Probably less money then the PH up stuff you are buying. I use African cichlid conditioner in my main tank, has a high calcium count. One bottle will treat about 3-400 gallons, costs me 8.00 here in NJ. Try that first.

Answer 2

A pH of 6 is still tolerable for most fish, but they may need to have a little extra acclimation time. But you are bordering a point where your water is acidic enough that if something happens (wastes build up if you miss a cleaning, you need to use a medication that increases your acidity) that you really don't want it to get any lower.

Buy a small amount of carbonate substrate (look for substrates made for cichlids or saltwater - but don't get the live sand which contains marine bacteria and is more expensive, get the dry material) and add about 1/8-1/4 cup of this to your tank at a time to mix with your regular gravel - it will slowly raise your pH and keep it at a more stable level tank chemicals which need to be added at every water change. This will need to be periodically replenished as it dissolves to neutralize the acidity. A few live plants (if you have lights on the tank) that are easy to keep (Java fern, Anubias, crypts) will also increase your pH, but only during the day when they are actively using photosynthesis.

Answer 3

Just dilute the tap water with some distilled water, and use that for water changes. but since your mom won't buy water and likely will not buy you a filter to make it yourself, the outside hose is fine but you will need to warm it to do water changes and condition it like any other water change. It will help you reach a lower pH. Also things like peat and driftwood will help soften the water and allow for a lower pH. Remove any limestone or shells from the tank as they will increase hardness and pH. There are also water softener pillows and other non-checmical additives that work well. Many salts can also reduce pH (ion exchange). Also, since the hose outside and the house are likely using the same water supply, there might be something in the house plumbing causing the increased pH. Allow the tap to run for two or three minutes and flush out the water that was sitting in the pipes and test it again..is it lower? That might be the solution to the temp issue as well. You might just need to let the faucet run to flush out the pipes and then use the better water for water changes instead of the outside hose. Also, what fish? You might just want to consider switching to african rift lake fish or brackish fish that love the higher pH!

Answer 4

Try adding alkaline water, the pH should come up with it. If you have driftwood, peat, stuff like that, try removing them for a while, make the water as hard as possible, then add back in. Just an idea.

Answer 5

need a good filtering system

Answer 6

go to a science lab and let them tested it out or a vet